Sinn Féin’s triple lock reform protest ‘is misinformation’ – defence minister

Sinn Féin is putting out “misinformation, disinformation and falsehoods”, Defence Minister Helen McEntee has said in response to a protest held by the party on Tuesday that called for a referendum on reform of the triple lock system.

The Dáil voted by a narrow margin last month to reform the system around the deployment of peacekeeping troops.

Seventy-nine TDs voted for the Bill to end the requirement for UN approval and 71 voted against the legislation that the Government aims to have enacted by the end of the year.

Sinn Féin staged a protest in front of Government Buildings on Tuesday morning, calling for a referendum to be held before any reform of the legislation.

The triple lock system dictates that UN approval, a decision by Government and a vote in the Dáil are all required before the deployment of more than 12 members of the Irish Defence Forces.

Speaking before a sitting of Dáil Éireann on Tuesday, Sinn Féin TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire demanded a referendum and said the Government must allow Irish people to have their say on ending the triple lock.

He said: “It must be put to the people. The Irish people value their neutrality. The neutrality belongs to the Irish people.

“What the government is proposing to do is reckless, is dangerous, it is foolish, it undermines the reputation that we have internationally and it goes completely against the will of the Irish people.

“We are living in a very fraught world. It is all the more reason that we should not dip our toes into these very fractious times and potentially to be driven along by the tides of the great powers.

“We must stand on our own two feet on the basis of our own independent foreign policy.”

Responding to Mr Ó Laoghaire, Ms McEntee said Sinn Féin is putting out “misinformation” around the possibility of reforms.

“They are claiming falsely that changing the triple lock and amending it will impact our neutrality. That’s not the case,” she said.

“There’s an article already in our Constitution that states very clearly… if the (European Union) Council were to agree on a defence arrangement, that we would have to vote here as a country and that we would have to agree to it.

“I think they’re speaking out of both sides of their mouth because they have told me repeatedly in debates that they want Ireland as a sovereign country to have responsibility for our own foreign and security policy, yet at the same time, they think it’s OK to allow five other countries – Russia, China, the US, France and the UK – to have any kind of a say in where or when or how we deploy our troops, or where we keep our troops.

“What we’ve seen since the last debate is that we had another UN peacekeeping mission losing its mandate, so we’re now down to 10. I think they need to be very clear with people because there’s a lot of misinformation, disinformation and falsehoods put out.”

After 48 years serving with Unifil (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon), the 69th Infantry Group will be the last to deploy from the Irish Defence Forces after the programme lost its UN mandate.

Other programmes involving Irish troops, such as Operation Irini, have also lost their mandates.

Ms McEntee said that while the triple lock is in place, Ireland has no autonomy over where to send its peacekeepers.

“The world has changed, there are much bigger challenges now, and we should never be in a situation where any other country has a say in where we send our troops,” she said.

“There is no other country in the world that has a triple lock, that requires a UN Security Council mandate, but none of that information is being put out by those who oppose this.

“We have many of our missions that are now losing their mandate, and where it is impossible for us, with the triple lock, to take part in some of these missions that are currently in existence.

“I don’t believe it should be the situation where Ireland, as a sovereign, independent country, does not have its own decision-making power, and that’s what we’re trying to change here.”